Betfair Official Blog

FIFA Women's World Cup betting and odds

The fifth Women's World Cup gets underway on September 10 as the cream of the Women's game come together for what should be an intriguing betting prospect.

The 16 participating teams head to the Far East as China, who hosted the inaugural event in 1991, are again handed the privilege of holding the showpiece of the women's game.

Having qualified automatically as hosts, the Chinese are likely to be among the favourites in the betting with their odds reflecting home advantage. They are yet to lift the trophy, although came close in 1999 when their great rivals USA edged them out in the final on penalties.

The USA will certainly have their supporters among those considering a bet, as they boast the best record in the competition to date. Punters considering the odds in the betting will be aware the States have won the competition twice - once on home turf in that 1999 final after landing the inaugural competition of 1991. They will be hoping to repeat that success on Chinese soil this time of asking and in doing so land the bets of their supporters.

Much of America's success is because they were the first full-time professional team, however, customers looking at the betting will be well aware that Greg Ryan's side have found themselves in arguably the 'group of death'. The US are in Group B along with three of the top five teams in the June 2007 FIFA Women's World Rankings - Korea, Nigeria and Sweden - and so cannot be described as a safe bet.

Group A, which includes England, appears equally tough. Hope Powell's side find themselves in with Argentina, Japan and the defending champions Germany, who landed plenty of bets when they defeated Sweden in the 2003 final.

While England have a poor record in the competition to date, those considering single match bets or betting in the outright winner market will be well aware of the previous form of arch-rivals Germany. Their form is second only to America with a runners-up finish in 1995 and a fourth-place finish in 1991 to add to their win last time.

Whatever bets are struck throughout the tournament, one thing is for sure it is likely to be a highly entertaining showpiece held in some highly impressive stadia - the pick of those being the 60,000-capacity Olympics Stadium in Tianjin.